US, Israel discuss possible US-led administration for Gaza: sources
The US and Israel have discussed the possibility of Washington leading a temporary post-war administration of Gaza as the UN warned about the “annihilation” of the area. Follow updates.
America and Israel have reportedly discussed the possibility of the US leading an interim post-war administration of Gaza.
According to a Reuters report, the “high-level” discussions have revolved around a transitional government headed by a US official that would oversee Gaza until it had been demilitarised and stabilised, and a feasible Palestinian administration had emerged.
According to the discussions, which are described as “preliminary”, there would be no set timeline for the length of a US-led administration, which ultimately would depend on the situation on the ground, sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
The proposal was compared to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq that the US established in 2003, shortly after the American-led invasion that ended Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Many Iraqis saw America’s presence as an occupying force and it transferred power to an interim Iraqi government in 2004 after failing to contain a growing insurgency.
Other countries would be asked to take part in the US-led authority in Gaza, the sources said, but they were not named.
They said the administration would not include militant group Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, which holds limited authority in the occupied West Bank.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, sparked the current conflict when its militants stormed into southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing another 251.
According to Reuters, the sources said it was not clear whether any agreement could be reached. Discussions had not reached the point of considering who might take on core roles.
The sources did not specify which side had put forward the proposal nor provide further details of the talks.
The US State Department spokesman has not commented on whether there had been discussions with Israel about a US-led provisional authority in Gaza, saying they could not speak to ongoing negotiations.
“We want peace, and the immediate release of the hostages,” the spokesman said, adding that: “The pillars of our approach remain resolute: stand with Israel, stand for peace.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not commented on the reports.
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UN WARNS OF ‘ANNIHILATION’ IN GAZA AMID STRIKES
Meanwhile, UN experts demanded action to avert the “annihilation” of Palestinians in Gaza, as rescuers said Israeli strikes across the territory killed dozens of people.
A planned expanded offensive revealed by the Israeli military has drawn international condemnation, after UN agencies previously warned of humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian territory already devastated by 19 months of war.
More than 20 independent United Nations experts said the world faced a “stark decision” to “remain passive and witness the slaughter of innocents or take part in crafting a just resolution”.
The experts implored the international community to avert the “moral abyss we are descending into”.
Israel’s broader offensive, approved by the government amid a two-month aid blockade on Gaza, would include displacing “most” of its residents, the military has said.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday called the situation in Gaza “the most critical we have ever seen”.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Madrid would present a draft resolution at the UN General Assembly aimed at “proposing urgent measures to stop the killing of innocent civilians and ensure humanitarian aid” in Gaza.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told parliament the situation in Gaza and the occupied West Bank was “increasingly intolerable”.
Rescuers in the Palestinian territory said Israeli bombardment on Wednesday local time killed 59 people.
ISRAEL DESTROYS YEMENS AIRPORT
The Israeli military has said it “fully disabled” Yemen’s main airport in the capital Sanaa, which is controlled by the Houthis.
The strikes targeted three civilian planes, the departures hall, the runway and a military air base, airport sources told Reuters.
An official told AFP that the airport had been “completely destroyed”.
The United States and Yemen’s Houthis have reached a ceasefire agreement, mediators announced, saying the deal would ensure “freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea where the Iran-backed rebels have attacked shipping for months.
The agreement comes after US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would end attacks against the Huthis after the rebels agreed to stop harassing ships, though he made no direct mention of recent attacks on ally Israel.
‘GAZA WILL BE ENTIRELY DESTROYED’
It came as Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that a victory for his country in its war against militant group Hamas spells doom for the Gaza Strip.
“Gaza will be entirely destroyed, civilians will be sent to … the south to a humanitarian zone without Hamas or terrorism, and from there they will start to leave in great numbers to third countries,” the far-right firebrand told a conference in the Israeli settlement of Ofra in the occupied West Bank.
Smotrich, who lives in a settlement in the West Bank, also expressed his hope that the territory would be formally annexed during the current government’s term, which could last until late next year.
He called the annexation of the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, “one of the most important challenges” for the Israeli leadership.
In recent months, Israeli public figures including Smotrich have increasingly called for the annexation of the West Bank, defying global concerns over the future of the Palestinian territory.
Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to three million Palestinians, and around 490,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under international law.
HAMAS SLAMS CEASEFIRE TALKS
Meanwhile, Hamas dismissed as pointless ceasefire talks with Israel, accusing it of waging a “hunger war” on Gaza, where famine looms, as the Israeli military prepared for a broader assault.
The comments from Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim followed Israel’s approval of a military plan involving the long-term “conquest of the Gaza Strip”, according to an Israeli official.
Nearly all of the Palestinian territory’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once during the war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
A two-month Israeli blockade since early March has worsened the humanitarian crisis.
“There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip,” senior Hamas official Naim told AFP.
Israel’s military has said the expanded operations approved by the security cabinet on Sunday would include displacing “most” of Gaza’s population.
Before that phase begins, a senior Israeli security source has said that the timing of troop deployments allowed a “window of opportunity” for a possible hostage deal coinciding with Mr Trump’s visit to the Middle East next week.
POPEMOBILE CONVERTED INTO CLINIC FOR GAZA KIDS
A Popemobile used by the late Pope Francis will be transformed into a mobile health clinic for children in the Gaza Strip, as part of a donation made by the pontiff in the months before his death.
The iconic open-sided vehicle, designed to allow the pontiff to greet crowds of wellwishers, has been transferred to Caritas Jerusalem and will head to Gaza if and when Israel opens a humanitarian corridor.
The car, a converted Mitsubishi, was used by the pope during a 2014 visit to Bethlehem and had since been on display, gathering dust and rust. It has now been repaired and refurbished as a mobile clinic.
“With the vehicle, we will be able to reach children who today have no access to healthcare — children who are injured and malnourished,” Peter Brune, secretary-general of Caritas Sweden said.
Brune told AFP that Sweden’s Cardinal Anders Arborelius had asked the late pope, who died on April 21 aged 88, that the spare vehicle be put to use providing essential frontline healthcare to Palestinian children.
It will be fitted with medical equipment and a fridge for medicines and be assigned a driver and a team of doctors.
“This vehicle represents the love, care and closeness shown by His Holiness for the most vulnerable, which he expressed throughout the crisis,” said Anton Asfar, secretary-general of Caritas Jerusalem.
It was not clear, however, if or when the aid agency’s hoped-for humanitarian corridor would open.
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Originally published as US, Israel discuss possible US-led administration for Gaza: sources